AI no longer speculative technology but an operational reality: CJI

Artificial intelligence is no longer a speculative technology but an operational reality and poses one of the most significant tests for international law, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said, underlining that choices made during this decade will shape the future relationship between technology, power, freedom, and justice.

He also stressed that technology itself is neither inherently benevolent nor inherently harmful.

Speaking at a public lecture in Birkbeck College of University of London on "Artificial Intelligence and International Law", he said unlike previous technological revolutions, AI does not merely enhance human capacity; it increasingly participates in decision-making processes that were historically considered uniquely human.

 

"Technology itself is neither inherently benevolent nor inherently harmful. Its impact depends upon the legal, political, and ethical frameworks within which societies choose to deploy it. The responsibility of law, therefore, is neither to resist technological progress nor to surrender unquestioningly before it. Its responsibility is to ensure that technological power remains accountable to constitutional values, democratic legitimacy, and human dignity," he said.

CJI Kant said AI is now an operational reality that is reshaping governance, commerce, warfare, communication, public administration, and increasingly, the exercise of judicial and sovereign power itself.

"Governments now utilise algorithmic systems to allocate welfare benefits, assess immigration applications, monitor borders, regulate financial systems, and support policing functions. Militaries are rapidly developing autonomous capabilities. Courts across jurisdictions are beginning to confront questions involving AI-generated evidence, automated decision-making, and digital due process. Private corporations possess technological capacities that rival, and in some instances exceed, the informational reach of sovereign states," he said.

Artificial intelligence poses one of the most significant tests for international law in its modern evolution, he said, adding choices made during this decade will shape the relationship between technology, power, freedom, and justice for generations to come.

"The central challenge before us is to ensure that, in an age of intelligent machines, humanity retains authorship of the principles by which it is governed. If international law can rise to that challenge, artificial intelligence may become not merely a technological revolution, but an opportunity to reaffirm the values that lie at the foundation of democratic civilisation itself," he underscored.

CJI Kant, who is on a six-day UK trip, said, artificial intelligence presents unprecedented opportunities for strengthening the administration of justice and across jurisdictions, courts are increasingly leveraging AI-driven tools to assist with legal research, case management, translation services, transcription of proceedings, document classification, and the identification of judicial precedents.

"When deployed responsibly and under appropriate human supervision, such technologies can help reduce delays, improve efficiency, expand access to legal information, and enable judges and court administrators to focus their attention on the more nuanced and inherently human aspects of adjudication. AI, therefore, should not be viewed solely as a source of legal complexity, but also as a powerful instrument for advancing the constitutional promise of timely, accessible, and effective justice," he said.

The CJI wondered whether AI will influence international law as the transformation is already underway and the real question is whether the existing architecture of international law possesses the conceptual elasticity necessary to absorb this disruption.

"We need to assess if the fundamental doctrines of international law, namely sovereignty, human rights and enforceability of foreign awards/decrees will be able to adapt sufficiently to govern algorithmic power? Or are we approaching a moment that requires an entirely new legal imagination?" he said.

The traditional international law is deeply anchored in territoriality and AI fundamentally unsettles these assumptions, the CJI said, adding AI systems function through globally distributed architectures that frequently transcend territorial boundaries altogether.

"A model may be trained on datasets collected across multiple jurisdictions, refined through computational infrastructure situated elsewhere, deployed through cloud-based systems spanning several continents, and ultimately produce decisions affecting individuals far removed from every point in that chain," he said.

Thanking Birkbeck college for hosting this important conversation, CJI said at moments of profound technological transformation, dialogue between courts, universities, governments, and civil societies becomes indispensable.

"Ultimately, the future of artificial intelligence will be shaped not only by innovation but by the legal and moral choices that humanity collectively chooses to make," he said and highlighted that the challenge before the international community is not merely to regulate technological capability, but to preserve legal responsibility in environments where decision-making is increasingly mediated through algorithmic systems.

He added that if responsibility becomes too fragmented to identify, accountability itself risks becoming illusory.